I started the kiln for my first Glaze Fireing this morning. I used a variety of glazes and glaze brands so I am curious about how everything will turn out (if it does turn out). Tomorrow morning should be my first glaze reveal! (it's -4 degrees today, and the kiln is in the garage so I don't imagine it will take forever to cool off, but obviously also nervous about the drastic temp change.

Learning On my Kick wheel with my vintage Paragon (from the late 1960's)

Thanks! I take your word for it seing that you work for Parragon! LOL My kiln is a 1969 (does a- 66 sound right?) Small, but it works!

I am pleased that you are firing a classic A-66B. Believe it or not, we still make that kiln. It is called the S-66 and uses the same basic design except the switches are infinite control instead of 4-way rotary.

Thanks! I take your word for it seing that you work for Parragon! LOL My kiln is a 1969 (does a- 66 sound right?) Small, but it works!

I am pleased that you are firing a classic A-66B. Believe it or not, we still make that kiln. It is called the S-66 and uses the same basic design except the switches are infinite control instead of 4-way rotary.

UPDATE!! - I took a flashlight to the peep hole tonight and see that my aqua blue looks nice, but something in there looks dark brown, I don't have brown glaze so I think it is either the gold or the metallic (it's a dark grey metallic) .. I won't know until the morning. It could also be from some colors blending because on some pots I had glaze overlap other brands. I saw something that I think is supposed to be a dark blue bowl that looks light blue.

Does stuff like that normally happen in commercial glaze? I will know completely in the morning when I open it up.

Learning On my Kick wheel with my vintage Paragon (from the late 1960's)

Here are the results....
I brushed all the glaze on
The light blue textured color on the bowls & 1 cup is supposed to be textured but I dont' know if I like the results.
the dark blue was 2 layers , I am thinking it would be better if I did 4 layers, I don't like the unevenness of the brushing.
The "om" and the inside of one of the bowls was supposed to be gold, but it looks like a metallic brown. Not sure what went on there??
The drippy bowl was just me playing with mixing glaze colors.. I expected the drips to run a bit more and to blend in better, so I am not excited about how stark the drips look.
I like the blue lidded jar, it's the only thing that actually turned out the way I was hoping.

Next time I need to be heavier with the glaze.. I was just paranoid that it would drip and stick to my shelves.

Learning On my Kick wheel with my vintage Paragon (from the late 1960's)

Make yourself some test tiles -- one set for each glaze alone, another set for layering your other glazes on top. Takes the guess work out of layering glazes and you'll know which combinations are more likely to work and those to avoid. The gold that ended up brown . . . likely a result of the two glazes reacting to each other. A test tile would show if that combination works or doesn't work.

When applying brush glazes, alternate coats . . . for example, top to bottom, then side to side, then top to bottom again. That ensures more even coverage. As Neil suggested, three coats.

I second the advise to use test tiles. I have learned the hard way about testing on pots that I love. If you search for John Britt on you tube he has a couple of videos on glaze line testing and how he makes his test tiles. Even if you are not line testing a custom glaze you can still use his same advice with variations of the different glazes you are using. Do some brushing with multiple coats, do some dipping of tiles and the use double dipped tiles, then dip different glazes.